Software and User Interface
If you already have been a S40 user then you will be happy to see that there is plenty of new items in this new generation of S40’s Touch & Type user interface. And if you have been familiar with Touch & Type UI of S40 UI e.g. in C2-02 then you should already be well informed about what’s running inside this Asha 303.
As per the requirement or a need on touchscreen devices, an unlock screen is there with a simple “Unlock” button if the keypad and screen is locked with the dedicated lock key on the right side of the device (see design) – However many Nokia’s touchscreen devices have the dedicated key for locking and unlcoking the screen where actually there is not a requirement of an unlock screen.
Unlocking the screen takes to you “Home Screen” which was usually called as standby mode. But here it’s the Home Screen with a little bit live information from your social networks. Yes they are widgets (or like widget) on the home screen
A small functional profile selector is having a similarities of a drop-down menu but it’s initiated and closed with a tap. It’s not with a slide-down behavior. Menu screen is simply a general app launcher view.
Worth mentioning, is that the home screen is customizable/personalizable. Long-tapping on anywhere on the home screen (except the status bar) will bring up a menu with an option to personalize the view and add/remove widgets/shortcuts.
As you can see the option “Swipe gesture”, the home screen listens to the swipe gestures – swipe to right or swipe to left – but the effect of sliding isn’t available. That means swiping only switches the view but depends on the direction of swipe action.
Kinetic scrolling feature is also worth mentioning because it’s fully stable and has been implemented everywhere in the system (at least if I haven’t missed anything) e.g. in lists, pictures, picture previews etc. Simply where the scrolling is needed, it’s kinetic. In fact I didn’t see any where the actual side scroller may have worked.
Well I can assure that these features mostly can be offered on a touchscreen devices and they really helps to navigate through the system more quickly. This user interface is good indeed on S40 Touch & Type devices.
I’ll still say that I missed the multitasking on S40 which is still not available on current S40 platform. May be Nokia is really up to the S40/Meltemi Platform with many features which were expected to arrive on S40? It’s believed that there will be multitasking on those devices which already have been seen on FCC documentations. I believe this will take the S40 platform to whole new world (to me which was never expected.)
Call, Contacts and Messaging
There is no compromise to have with Asha 303, if you want a good reception quality. But the thing to note is that the smart functions for calling aren’t available e.g. smart dialing or voice dialing. However speed dialing is there like always. One cool feature for most of the users out there is the “Call Recording”. It’s built-in to Asha 303 – I actually never wanted that feature personally anyway. “Voice Clarity” is also a nice feature to have built-in.
You would have noticed till now that the screen is locked when a call is in progress. That’s an obvious requirement to lock the touchscreen when a call is going on. To unlock the screen on Asha 303 for using in-call features, you need to press unlock key on the right side of the phone. (worth noticing that the Asha 303 doesn’t have “proximity sensor” that is used to turn off the display and touch controls when you bring the phone near your face.)
Contacts Management, on the other hand, is really easy. You have options to add multiple details of a contact with a simple 3-step process initially and adding more details later.
Along with the traditional messaging options e.g. Inbox, Sent Items, Drafts, etc. the new “Conversation View” is really an appreciable addition to S40 Touch & Type UI. And so is available on Asha 303.
Well all other options are still same for example a text composer and the same steps involved in sending a message.
Email, Chat and Social Networking
This part of the new gen. S40 Touch & Type platform is really appreciable. Email App on Asha 303 is supporting Ovi email services like Ovi Mail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Mail and other with IMAP4 and POP3. Well that is Push email with attachments.
Second thing on the list is Chat, that supports Facebook Chat, GTalk, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger. Also with the notifications and special icons on status bar on home screen.
Social networking supports Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Orkut with widgets.
Of course the Asha series is supposed to target mass market as well as to offer today’s online activities like social networking and chat. This really adds much points to the device capabilities.
Store, Apps and Games
New Nokia Store app on S40 platform shows that it has been improved a lot. Similar to Symbian^3’s initial store user interface seems to give overview in this S40’s store app. Simply it is a nice looking app that as well is easy to navigate through. Apps can be browsed in the Nokia Store by collections or categories – Applications, Games, Audio and Video content, Personalization.
Top rated apps like WhatsApp and Foursquare has also been made available for S40 platform which are actually limited but Nokia has done a lot to bring these most wanted apps to its mass market consumers. Foursquare app in high-end devices uses GPS signals so as Asha 303 doesn’t have GPS chip or hardware hence the app uses the cell id information to locate your current position.
Not only applications but Nokia has also made the most popular game of last year and that is Angry Birds ;) Check out the screen shots below.
Nokia Asha 303 (Asha 300 too) is coming with a free demo of Angry Birds pre-installed in the phone however you can buy full version from Nokia Store. It’s pretty smooth on Asha 303.
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